This recent column by Instapundit Glenn Reynolds is a must-read, and contains the following key paragraphs:***
...The United States Code -- containing federal statutory law -- is more than 50,000 pages long and comprises 40 volumes. The Code of Federal Regulations, which indexes administrative rules, is 161,117 pages long and composes 226 volumes.
No one on Earth understands them all, and the potential interaction among all the different rules would choke a supercomputer. This means, of course, that when Congress changes the law, it not only can't be aware of all the real-world complications it's producing, it can't even understand the legal and regulatory implications of what it's doing...
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If anyone asks you why we want to Restore The Constitution, that's the answer.
Whatever the Leviathan described and empowered by those 266 books and more than 210,000 pages of laws and regulations actually is, it most certainly is not Constitutionally-limited government.
The reason is simple. Once you have built a web of laws which no one can know you have created an environment where everyone is a criminal. Now you can simply order the Gestapo to pick up the miscreants whenever you need to eliminate them.
ReplyDelete"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We WANT them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted -- and you create a nation of law-breakers -- and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with."
ReplyDelete-- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
You're not supposed to understand it. All that legal code is for the benefit of THEM.
ReplyDeleteThe lawyers write the rules.
The lawyers sic their enforcers on us to enforce all that law. Now, a lot of it is actively enforced beyond the obvious mala in se murder, rape, theft-a lot of niggling enforcement goes on as we all know.
Most of that law is enforced when a government minion sees an opportunity to steal more for massa state, rob us. When we go to trial all that code is the enemy's plaything and between those hundreds of volumes and the god-like power judges have, well is it any wonder prosecution rates run up to the same percentile as North Korean elections for Kim Jong Il?
Reform starts with you saying no more. Then finding other like-minded Free people. Then you create a Free zone and then you expand that Free zone.
"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. … —Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
ReplyDelete"The United States Code -- containing federal statutory law -- is more than 50,000 pages long and comprises 40 volumes. The Code of Federal Regulations, which indexes administrative rules, is 161,117 pages long and composes 226 volumes."
ReplyDeleteCertainly seems like overkill - and 99.99% of it probably is.
But:
Where in the Constitution is murder explicitly illegal, or a crime? Or even mentioned?
Or rape?
Or assault/theft/whatever?
Or defrauding someone of all they have?
Or selling deadly drugs/food provided to children?
Nowhere.
Oh sure, A4's "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" protects against the US GOVERNMENT doing so, but NOT against private individuals/thugs/psychos/corporations. A5/6/7 discuss trials, punishment, and such, but do not define "crimes".
That's some of the minutia that the US Codes/Fed Regs cover, as well as those of the states.
Be careful of that bath water you want to throw out.
Ha, you beat me to it.
ReplyDeleteYour version has more context, which is even more apropos these days.